Though the appearance of one's university or alma mater on a hit television show may be a thrill in itself, Brown's appearance on Sunday night's episode of "Family Guy" was less than satisfying, said a Brown student, an alum and an administrator Sunday.
"I thought, overall, (the episode) wasn't very Brown-specific," said Frances Mantak '88, director of health education. "I was pretty disappointed."
An on-and-off viewer of the animated show, Mantak said the episode - which revolved around a main character (articulate dog Brian Griffin) returning to Brown to complete his education - would have been funnier had there been more jabs at the stereotypical "slacker" Brown student.
"A viewer who wouldn't know Brown wouldn't feel like they were portraying Brown in a specific way," she said. "They weren't giving you any sort of assumed stereotype. ... They could have made fun of a lot of things."
Like Mantak, Gabrielle Fuentes '08 was also disappointed by the lack of Brown-specific references in the episode.
"They had the Van Wickle Gates, but it feels like they just threw it in," said Fuentes, a regular viewer of the show. But she added that the show's writers had to consider their entire audience, saying that a show consisting of inside jokes at Brown's expense would not have been well-received.
But Fuentes did find a few of the barbs directed at the University funny. She found Brian's first encounter with a female student - who maces the dog after he asks her for a pencil - an accurate but exaggerated portrayal of feminism at Brown. She said she thought the show's portrayal of a typical Brown student - a brooding student who "likes cutting myself and bleeding a lot" - not to be entirely representative.
"I don't think it's very typical of Brown," she said. "I haven't met anybody like that here. It seems more like a thing at a middle school in Idaho."
But Daniel Hausmann '05, who owns all the "Family Guy" DVDs, enjoyed the depiction of the Brown student.
"It was funny," Hausmann said. "It is an exaggeration, but typically, students here are stereotypically artsy and counterculture." But he added the depiction was "more what I think of a RISD student."
Hausman said he found the show's portrayal of Brown professors "very accurate."
"Typically, (the professors) are very smart, but they can't teach very well," he said.
Overall, Hausmann found the show "okay." "It's not as funny as it used to be," he said."
But despite all the shortcomings of the episode, at least one student acknowledged the excitement of having Brown featured on a hit show.
"It's cool to have your school featured on 'Family Guy,' and it's cool to have them make fun of it," Fuentes said. "But it makes me have low self-esteem," she added jokingly.
